Pauline Hanson goes nuclear over Angus Taylor’s new immigration proposal – and reveals the one thing she can’t stand about the Liberals
One Nation’s Pauline Hanson has said she is ‘sick’ of the Coalition’s attitude as she slammed Angus Taylor’s first budget reply for trying to appeal to her voters.
On Thursday, Taylor promised to index income tax thresholds to inflation, while also going hard on immigration, welfare, housing, small business and defence.
His immigration policy included a plan to strip welfare payments from permanent residents, including JobSeeker and the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
The opposition leader claimed a person was not Australian until they had become a citizen.
He also said there would be a broader crackdown on immigration, which would see Australia’s intake of foreigners tied to the number of homes built each year.
But Hanson has hit out at Taylor and the opposition during an interview with Sky News host Rowan Dean on Friday.
‘Angus Taylor is trying to appeal to the One Nation voters. The Farrer by-election was a big wake-up call for them,’ she said, referencing her party’s landslide win, which gained almost twice as much support as the Liberal and National candidates.
‘A lot of it was leaning towards One Nation’s policies… But if he wants to be the government, he needs to produce more to show the people what he can do.
One Nation’s Pauline Hanson (pictured) has said she is ‘sick’ of the Coalition’s attitude
She said Opposition Leader Angus Taylor (pictured) is trying to appeal to the One Nation voters
‘He’s talking about knocking immigration back… but he couldn’t even put a figure on it.’
The senator claimed some members of the Liberals were ‘Labor-lite or Greens’, claiming they would hold him back.
‘Angus Taylor is going to be hamstrung by his members of parliament, who are the moderates,’ she said.
‘And that’s going to be his big problem, because they’re going to block him. They will block him.’
Hanson added that One Nation would work with the Coalition to ‘oust this Labor/Greens/Teal government’, but the sentiment was not reciprocated.
‘If I have to work with them, I will, but I’m sick of their attitude, and I’m going to prove to the Australian people we have the policies, we have determination, and we can do it,’ she said.
‘And if it happens that I need to be prime minister of this country… I’m going to go for it.’
The Daily Mail has contacted Taylor’s office for comment.
Hanson said the Farrer by-election was a wake up call for the Coalition after One Nation won (pictured, One Nation Member for Farrer David Farley (left), and Hanson celebrate in Albury)
The opposition leader has not only come under fire from One Nation, but also from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and activists.
Albanese accused the opposition of pulling its migration policies from One Nation’s playbook.
‘I didn’t know that Angus Taylor had employed (One Nation senator) Malcolm Roberts as a speechwriter, but last night, that’s what it looked like,’ he told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.
‘You couldn’t have any answers about costings or anything else; they’ve just been a mess and haven’t been able to hold the line.’
Meanwhile, migrant advocates responded angrily to the opposition leader’s speech, accusing him of attempting to ‘chase votes with fear and division’.
‘Taylor’s comments tonight are inflammatory and desperate,’ Asylum Seeker Resource Centre deputy chief executive Jana Favero said in a statement.
